


The First Kiss should blow your mind.

by malfoible



Category: Criminal Minds, Now You See Me (Movies)
Genre: Fluff, M/M, mentalism.
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-18
Updated: 2016-09-18
Packaged: 2018-08-15 17:28:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,760
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8065552
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/malfoible/pseuds/malfoible
Summary: The Four Horsemen getting arrested was not the first time Merritt had had dealings with the F.B.I.





	

Special Agent Aaron Hotchner had remained in his office after sending his team home.

A large pile of paperwork had arrived on his desk.   
New working practices and codes of conduct.  
He was going to have to read through them all to see which were relevant.  
He could have taken them home but there was temptation there, the urge to pour a couple of fingers of Bourbon or a glass of ruby-red wine.  
To kick off his shoes and put on some music. Better he stayed where he was.

After a couple of hours, which felt more like ten, he was doing more yawning than reading. He decided to call it a day.

The streets were busy as he drove and checking the time he noticed it was only a little after nine.

There were plenty of people going out for dinner or to a bar.  
He slowed at an intersection and a figure caught his eye.  
Reid, out with some friends. A guy and two women. Was he on a date?

Hotch poked the corner of his mind where he kept his feelings for Reid.   
Attraction, he’d felt almost from the beginning, but Spencer had been so young, and Aaron was Reid’s supervisor, he wouldn’t take advantage.

Hotch was used to hiding his feelings, keeping control.  
He had married young, his college sweetheart.   
She had chosen him, admired his drive, his ambition.  
His good looks the envy of her friend.  
The reality had hit within the first year.  
He was driven and ambitious, but being single-minded, pursuing his career had left little time for her, for married life.  
She had tired of spoiled dinners and phone calls at the weekend.   
She had left him, returned home to her single life.  
Had been happily married for some years to a man who adored her.

Hotch had dated a few women and, occasionally, a man, none had stayed the course, his feelings had never been touched until Reid had turned up.  
Young, vibrant, with his hair and his eyes and his full mouth made for kissing.   
Instant attraction.

Over the years the feelings had grown as he’d gotten to know the young man, he was brilliant, intelligent, beautiful.  
Attraction had given way to affection, want, lust, need, love…love…

Reid was no longer a boy, but still Hotch hadn’t spoken. Their working relationship was important to him, was a fling worth ruining that? 

 

Hotch was good at reading people.  
A mixture of observation and experience meant he knew all his team, but the connection with Reid was stronger than what he felt with the others.  
He knew all of Spencer’s moods, could tell if he was happy or sad, angry, anxious, afraid.  
In all the years, he had never been able to read if Spencer was in love. 

Reid talked and talked, giving you way more information you would ever need, but he didn’t talk about himself personally.  
A mention of a movie he’d seen would include discussion of lighting techniques, cinematography, potted bios of the cast, but no mention of who he’d gone to the cinema with.

Hotch had no idea if he dated, was in a relationship.

A shard of jealousy stabbed him, was Spencer on a date?  
The group on the corner must have just exited the restaurant as they seemed to be saying goodbye.

Hotch waited to see which direction Reid was going and pulled up along-side.

“Reid can I give you a ride?”

“Hotch! Oh yes, I’m going home if that’s Ok?”

“Fine, get in.”

Hotch expecting Reid’s usual chatter, wondered why he was so quiet.

“Good night? With your friends?”

“Em, well, yes, I suppose…” Reid sighed.  
“Some old friends got in touch, asked if I wanted to meet up, have a meal.  
They…Mark and Louise, I knew them in college, they brought a friend…”

“Was she…nice?”

Reid nodded yes, but didn’t seem to want to say any more so Hotch distracted him by asking about the restaurant and the food.  
This kept Reid talking until they arrived at his apartment. 

“Would you like to come in for a drink, it’s not too late is it?”

Hotch smiled and nodded,” Yes I’d like that. No it’s not late.”

Hotch relaxed on the couch, kicking off his shoes and accepting a beer.   
He felt comfortable here, they talked and played cards and listened to music.  
When Hotch refused a third beer as he had eaten no dinner, Spencer brought him some cheese and crackers.

He smiled down at Hotch. “Next time I’ll cook.”

Hotch smiled back up at him. “I didn’t know you could cook.”

Spencer shook his head.” I can learn.”

Warmth surged through Hotch. It would be good to do this again. To spend his evenings here with Spencer.  
He allowed his feelings to surface. He had been kidding himself all these years.  
He didn’t want a fling… one night…meaningless sex. He wanted Spencer. All of him. Forever.  
Not quite willing to speak out just yet he prepared to leave, yawning and putting on his shoes.  
He smiled at Reid again. “Thank you, I’ve enjoyed this and I would love you to cook, next time.”

Reid’s heart leapt as he showed him to the door.  
Hotch had enjoyed himself, he wanted to spend time with Reid again, perhaps after all these years of waiting and hoping, he was going admit his feelings.

The evening with his friends had prompted Reid to look into his heart.  
That’s why he had been unable to speak earlier, about the woman.  
She had been pleasant, friendly but not Reid’s type.  
He couldn’t have explained that he had lost his heart years ago, to Hotch himself.

At the door Aaron had bent his head and kissed Reid’s cheek, he paused just a second too long before saying goodnight and walking away.  
In the car he wondered if he had done the wrong thing.  
Would Reid be upset?   
Would he have kissed the others goodnight? J.J. maybe? She was a hugger.  
Morgan, definitely not.  
He thought about that kiss all the way home. Wishing he had touched the lips instead, tasted, slid his tongue into the wet heat of Spencer’s mouth.  
Looking into the rear mirror he laughed to himself.  
He’d wasted so much time fighting his feelings.   
Time to make a move.

 

The touch of Aaron’s lips had scorched Reid’s cheek, he could feel the pressure for hours afterwards.  
He wished he had turned his head so Hotch would have caught his lips instead.  
Did this mean what he hoped it meant? 

They both arrived at work next day filled with anticipation.

Fate was not on their side.

They caught the mother of all cases.  
Twenty five hour days, ten days straight, there was hardly time to eat, never mind worry about relationships.

Then they got a break, caught the killer in the act.  
Sighs of relief all round, until they began questioning their perp.

 

Special Agent Aaron Hotchner left the room rubbing his eyes and frowning.  
Dave Rossi walking with him patting his pockets for his cigarettes.  
Every few weeks he tried to quit but then something like this would some along.   
They walked along the corridor then up in the elevator and round to the rear of the building where they could exit a door and get a breath of fresh air.  
Hotch looked at Dave wondering if he should take up smoking, a cigarette would be welcome right now.   
At least you could smoke on duty.  
What he really wanted was a Scotch or a slug of bourbon.

Dave looked at Hotch’s face. “Hypnotism? That’s a new one.”

Hotch shook his head. “ I was hypnotised into killing nine people. Not guilty your honor.”

“What do you want to do?”

“Well let’s cover all the bases. Get this guy in for an interview. Find out all we can about him. What’s the name again?”

“Merritt McKinney.”

 

A few hours later.

“So what do we know about this Merritt McKinney?”

“He’s quite interesting.” Reid began.  
“Calls himself a mentalist. Had some success doing cabaret shows had a couple of TV specials.  
Picks a couple of people from the audience, makes them do funny things on stage. You know the type of thing.”  
Reid was fascinated by what he had learned. He talked and talked until finally Hotch raised his hand.

“Fine. Fine. As you know so much, you better do the interview with me. Has he been found?”

Morgan nodded. “Yes. At a club off Broadway. He’s being brought in now.”

 

“Mr McKinney? I’m special Agent Aaron Hotchner this is Dr. Spencer Reid, we’d like to ask you some questions.”

Merritt nodded and studied the pair for a few seconds. He smiled.  
“How did that first date work out? No sex obviously, but maybe a first kiss. Always special that first kiss don’t you think Doctor Reid?” 

Reid opened his mouth to speak but Merritt went on. “Not even a proper kiss. Not so good then.”

Hotchner’s voice was cold and hard as steel as he tapped the file on the table.

“Mr McKinney, we did not bring you here to do some kind of party trick. We have questions about a very serious matter.”

Merritt’s smile disappeared at Hotch’s tone. The teasing could wait.  
“Go ahead. I have nothing to hide.”

“Tell us about yourself. What you do. How you hypnotise people. What is mentalism?”

Reid butted in. “It’s fascinating. The kind of thing we do ourselves to profile people…” he would have carried on but Hotch was frowning. 

“In your own words, Mr. McKinney?”

Merritt talked for some time, explaining some, if not all of the ways he had of reading people. He went into a little more detail about hypnotism and then relaxed into his seat.  
” I’m not sure why the F.B.I. would want to know any of this. It’s not illegal or harmful.”

“Do you know a man named Gordon James Brandel?”

“No, the name doesn’t seem familiar.”

Hotch opened the file and pulled out a photograph. “Perhaps this will jog your memory.”

Merritt looked closely and nodded. “Don’t remember all the names. Sometimes don’t even get to know them, but he looks familiar.  
Was at one of my shows. Chicago maybe? Big guy, tattoo of a bird on one arm, is that him?”

Hotch nodded. “What can you tell us about him?”

Merritt looked straight at Hotch. “Really I’ve told you all I know.”

“You hypnotised him?”

“Yes.”

“You see Mr McKinney, he says you hypnotised him into killing someone.”

“Killing someone…you can’t be serious…who?”

“We can’t tell you that at present. Are you saying you didn’t persuade him to kill someone or you couldn’t?”

Merritt shook his head, “Well I didn’t, that much is certain, who would I want to kill?  
Look, my shows are fun Ok? People come to have a laugh, to be amazed.  
I can read the slightest expression, question the slightest movement.  
I can read the people, that’s how I can make, well, guesses, to what people have been up to.   
The hypnotism is another bit of the show.  
People who come up on stage are already halfway there, they want to be persuaded, they want to have a laugh.   
That’s how I can make them imitate a chicken or take off their clothes.   
They want to, you see. You can’t make people do something they don’t want to.  
Well not in a two-minute session on a stage.” 

“Could you if you had longer?” Reid was interested.

Merritt relaxed a little more, Reid seemed to believe him. He looked at Agent Hotchner, definitely a harder sell.

“Well Doc, to hypnotise someone into doing something so totally against the norm you would have to have total control over the subject.  
See Agent Hotchner here, I could probably get him to quack like a duck, because underneath that stiff exterior he has a fine sense of fun.  
I could get him to kiss you because he’s wanted to for…three…”He looked at Hotch…”Five years…really…what are you waiting for?  
The Doc here is gorgeous, I’m like, zero, on the Kinsey scale and I’d sleep with him.”

A flash of red in Hotch eye and his mouth tightened for a beat before he got control.  
Fuck, all the people he’d interviewed and this guy was the first one to find out that Reid was his Achilles heel.

Spencer glanced momentarily at his boss then back to Merritt. He took a deep breath.  
“So you’re saying you could hypnotise someone into killing if they had the desire in the first place and you spent hours with them promoting your agenda?”

“Well yes, theoretically but, really, why not just hire a hitman, much less time consuming.” 

Hotch nodded, “Unless you had psychopathic tendencies.” He opened the file again and took out nine more photographs.  
“Brandel has killed nine people, Mr McKinney, he wants to use hypnotism as a defence. "

Merritt looked at the photos in shock. “Nine people, impossible. Really? That is so…terrible…I’m….” He couldn’t go on.

Hotch stood up. “We’ll not keep you much longer. Reid come with me.”

They left the room.

“What do you think?”  
“I believe him Hotch, I don’t think he had anything to do with the murders, not that I really thought… anyway, I’ve never been too certain about hypnotism.. I mean there are forces…that one can’t explain…but…”

“I agree. I believe him too. He is very credible. I believe most of what he said. If Brandel does go with this defence?  
McKinney would make a strong witness for the prosecution.”

“Will he do that?”

“Let’s ask, and Reid, after this is over, you and I need to have a talk.”

 

Six months later.

The team had decided to stay overnight at the hotel and have a late dinner before heading home in the morning.

Hotch was in his room finishing off some paperwork and Reid had headed down to the restaurant to meet the others.

Crossing the foyer he spied a flyer which made him smile and without another thought headed out into the night.

Hotch exiting the elevator saw him walking away.  
“Reid, you forgotten your coat, you’ll freeze…”  
Reid was too far away to hear him.  
Hotch caught sight of the flyer and realising where Reid was headed returned upstairs to fetch some coats.

The club was not too far away, it was filled to capacity and Reid stood at the back to watch the show which was almost over.  
After Merritt had taken his second bow Reid moved down to the stage and Merritt smiled when he saw him.  
“Dr. Spencer Reid, good to see you. Come back for a drink?”

Reid nodded and followed him through a door into a corridor where people where packing up gear, and then into a small dressing room.

Merritt smiled again and poured out two drinks. “You’re looking a lot happier. Must be all the sex you’re having. The hot sex, the really hot sex. You must be wearing him out.”

Reid grinned and accepted the glass and took a sip.

Merritt went on. “And that first kiss? What did I say about the first kiss? Blew your mind didn’t it?”

Reid took another drink. “How are your reading all this in my face, not that you’re wrong but is my face so open?”

Merritt grinned more widely, and nodded at the door. “Not reading your face sweetheart, reading his. Agent Hotchner, always a pleasure.”

“Aaron!”

“You left your coat, I thought you might need it on the way back.”

Spencer smiled and kissed Hotch’s cheek. “This is why I love you.”

“Nothing to do with the hot, passionate sex then?”

“I can take it or leave it.”

Aaron pulled him close and kissed him. “Spencer, we all three know that’s a big fat lie.”

“Agent Hotchner will you take a drink?”

“Thank you.”

They chatted for a while then Merritt washed the make- up from his face, changed his shirt, put on his and picked up his bag.  
“I’ll walk you out.”

At the door Reid said goodnight and walked away but Hotch shook Merritt’s hand.

“Thank you, and not just for helping with the case.”

“My pleasure Aaron, it was never about the case. It was all about the love.”

Hotch looked at his love walking along the street.  
He moved to catch him up, then turned to say goodnight to Merritt, but found himself talking to empty air.


End file.
